5/18
We went to check out Hyatt when we found out that picture Leeteuk tweeted in the gym is from there. There were rooms available Saturday but not Sunday since people either found out or were arriving Sunday for the concert. I asked two fans standing around and they said they didn’t know but after further talking we did confirm the gym Leeteuk tweeted was from the Hyatt, so we booked the hotel for Saturday since luckily we could cancel our hotel reservation past Saturday (I picked the Sheraton next to the Convention Center but got it wrong T-T). As we were talking a “white person” wearing sunglasses came towards the door with two Asians. I didn’t pay much attention but someone said, “Yunho” and I only realized it then lol. He was drinking from a cup from some fast food place but I didn’t see from where. I feel like he always looks the same when I see him in real life except this time he wasn’t wearing a cap. This was around 3 am. Apparently Donghae came back with Minho not long before we arrived. Grr. Sorry luvey if I saw him I would have tried to catch him on camera for you :p

5/19

We went to check in at the Hyatt around 10, a little later than planned, so it was already after Suju was sighted eating breakfast. But today was our lucky day and our first stroke of luck was at the driveway.

When I pulled in, I saw a few Asians standing next to a black Lincoln, and thought, “Hmm, that guy looks like Chanyeol, is EXO here?” It was actually Kyuhyun, and the others standing with him were Minho and Changmin (Kyu-line ftw), Leeteuk, Ryeowook, and Shindong. I was like “Stop the car stop the car!” My friend in the passenger seat was able to snap a photo but I was too slow and the manager told us to move the car… We parked it at the door temporarily and got off to do paparazzi work. I saw that the back was tinted but my Kyu was sitting in the passenger seat so I could only take a picture through the windshield. He looked like he smiled but I didn’t want to get too close and his eyes weren’t visible.

Poor Leeteuk had to get out since the back of the car didn’t fit 5 so I recorded him leaving.

Later Shindong and Ryeowook moved to a white Camry behind the Lincoln. I was able to record Shindong entering since.

Soon both cars left. Later through pictures I found out they went to Knott’s Berry Farm, an amusement park nearby.

We checked in, put our bags up, and waited in the lobby for activity. First I saw four girls passing by (my back was to the elevators so I didn’t see any of their faces). One of them was really skinny and from her back looked like Jessica, but she was too tall so I ignored my intuition. She went to eat breakfast at the restaurant in the lobby, but my friend suspected she was someone so I followed with her. The girl’s profile looked like Tiffany, who didn’t arrive in Anaheim yet so it couldn’t have been her. Later someone said it’s Sooyoung, and those legs and that height could only belong to her. I got a crappy fancam of mostly her back. She was smart in camouflaging herself with a cap and wearing a gray cardigan to blend in.

Next two manager-like guys came out with a “little boy” whose face I didn’t see. When people chased her out I saw her face and thought she was Donghae at first, then realized that with such a small frame it must be a girl. It hit me that Amber just ran past us lol. I heard that someone asked “his name is Amber?” XD

A little bit later a small girl with a pink hoodie covering her head and sunglasses came out, and almost immediately I recognized her to be Luna. I said “It’s Luna” and she probably didn’t hear but she smiled and waved at others who said hi and took a gift. Nicest artist we saw so far.

Sooyoung came back but I only got a fancam of a staff covering her face while walking to the elevator, which was so bad that I deleted it.

Next time the elevator ding-ed, I saw a bunch of heads and was like omg it’s EXO, ALL TWELVE OF THEM.

They looked beautiful in person. I took a few pics they walked by but didn’t think to turn on my burst feature to take many at once 😦 I saw that Luhan was quite tired and had eyebags. I semi-followed after lay and said “Lay, Yixing, Yixing” but he didn’t turn around.

They went into the same restaurant Sooyoung did, but to eat lunch. The restaurant staff closed two sets of privacy doors to block out fangirls’ cameras.

As I was standing midway between the elevators and the restaurant, afraid of missing anyone coming and going, my friend looking other way said, “someone’s coming.” I turned around to see Jessica going out hands in hands with her dear sister, saying “bye” cutely while waving and smiling; I only got her “bye” and what’s after. They probably were leaving to visit family.

When I saw EXO managers discussing exit strategies (couldn’t understand but I heard “junbi sseoyo” or something similar), I got ready. One set of privacy doors cracked open and EXO came out looking much happier than earlier and actually smiling for a change, probably because of the food.

I took a few pics with burst but most were profile ones. EXO got on a shuttle outside.

After my friend realized it was going to Disneyland we also bought tickets and got on. My hands were shaking as I bought them lmao. We almost couldn’t get on since the bus was scheduled to leave at the exact time I bought the tickets. I took the only available seat in front of EXO (they sat in the back) and was sitting right in front of D.O who was sitting next to a manager T-T I was nervous so only managed to turn around to look at them once quickly. D.O has extremely round eyes, giving him a constant wide-eyed looked and making him so adorable! A few girls we met the day before came on and one had to sit semi-behind, semi-next to EXO and another had to squeeze next to me. After the bus started to move a girl me asked D.O for an autograph and he was like “English?” while smiling nervously and looking confused at the manager next to him. I tried to explain by saying “sign” since the Korean word is similar and manager said “sorry, no” as expected. Can’t believe I was on the same bus as them for at least 10 minutes. It felt longer.

When we got off I got a video of them getting off.

Suho nodded and was smiling the whole time when he was getting off, while the rest didn’t much. Tao and Kai had headphones on the whole time on the bus and a while after too. Kai is a bit strange, maybe too obsessed with dancing; he did a move while getting off, and kept dancing randomly when he had the headphones on XD We walked behind them but I only took one picture since the makeup noona told us to stop.

Tao turned around and graced us with his forehead by lifting half of his bangs, then makeup noona turned him back around. Kris played around with Chanyeol playfully putting him in a mock headlock. At one point Suho posed for the cameras LOL. He’s so funny, I’m liking him more and more.

EXO stood in the plaza between the two park entrances for a bit, then headed to behind the tickets booth so we were confused, but Kris came around from the back to buy tickets with a manager who knew no English.

We ended up right behind them in line. It was embarrassing because I tried to step over chain to get in line once but failed and had to try again, not sure if they saw that. My friend asked him if he was buying tickets for all of EXO and he laughed and said no (he seems to like laughing and taking at the same time lol) since he probably thought she meant he was paying for them too. A friend and I took a Polaroid with Kris as background and he just happened to turn his head sideways and be smiling so his pretty profile is capture. Film got a bit messed up though. I guess it was a bit creepy in hindsight and maybe I should have at least asked for a picture.

We stood in line for a while and had conversations (separately of course), maybe for 20 min. Kris is so tall! Especially since I’m short the difference made him seem taller.

He seemed to be explaining the ticket types with manager-sshi and deciding which one to get. I didn’t want to stare at his back so I looked to the side at my friend most of the time but at one point when I looked in his way he quickly turned his head back to the front so maybe he was interested in our conversation too :p One can hope right? Security came to talk to him because fans around EXO in the plaza were apparently disrupting the peace. What would EXO do without Kris? I didn’t hear anything but apparently they were only buying tickets for the Disney Californian Adventure Park. When the manager moved up in line while Kris stood there talking to the security guy so there was a huge gap in line, and I was like “Kris, line!” My friend said I sounded mean lol so any impression he had of me would have been bad hehe. But as they say, bad things are better remembered than good ones 😉 A while later another Disney staff came and asked how many tickets he needed (he said “sixteen”), told him they could get tickets quicker another way so they left the line.

We bought our tickets and went to the plaza where EXO was surrounded by a few fangirls. EXO crowded around each other with 4 staff in a circle at first, but at first Suho stood to the side for a while and waved as he smiled at different cameras. He seemed to be posing, again. LMAO…

They played a game and it seemed like Lay and D.O lost so as punishment they had to dance. They started chanting “MAMA, MAMA” and we joined, and the manager pushed the two into an open area. D.O had his shirt folded up nicely in his hands lol and handed it to one manager. The two danced right in front of us and some confused tourists. It was really short, just one line of the chorus, but to see them dance in their own clothes for such a small audience was wonderful. Of course I recorded it. Thank you so much for this awesome fan service EXO!

The makeup noona redid makeup for them at some point (or just wiped sweat away since they didn’t seem to be wearing makeup at all). Afterwards someone tried to hand them gifts but all were rejected by managers, though Bacon looked like he was really tempted to accept one. I went to bathroom and EXO had gone into park by the time I came out.

We decided to enjoy the park instead of just following them, and I’m still debating whether that was a good choice because of the roller coaster incident (I had met the girl who was on the same ride as EXO in New York for SMTown last year). We passed by EXO on our way to Screaming California (I assume they just came out from it not long ago). They had bought souvenir hats and looked really happy, probably from that ride and buying those hats. Tsk tsk tsk I guess they’re all kids still hehe. I only noticed a black mask with Disney design on Luhan’s mouth and had my eyes trained on the M members, not knowing what was in front of me. Right after I passed someone on my right I realized it was actually Kai! I turned around to check and saw that he was walking with Sehun and had someone between them, and I had passed right by him. They both had their eyes ahead and no expressions haha. They are my biases in K. I silently screamed and jumped lol and earned a few looks from passerbys. I turned back and saw from far away the manager standing by as someone who looks like a fan took a picture with EXO members, the closest looking like Bacon. I contemplated running to them to ask for a picture since they were in a good mood, but decided against it since we might see them later. This was a bad decision as they got swarmed with more and more fangirls the later it got.

We didn’t meet them for a while, so all of us except one went to the other park to check for fast passes. By this time EXO was at the Tower of Terror via the same girl from the roller coaster, who lucky bumped into them again. We actually did the two rides in the exact opposite order, the main reason we crossed paths with them earlier. As we were watching a Disney character parade in the other park our friend who was waiting in the first park texted that she just saw EXO getting in line for the water ride Grizzly Bear Run. Three didn’t go (Kai and two she didn’t know, who I later found out to be Chanyeol and Luhan); I read an interesting story about a trashcan dilemma that Kai and Chanyeol had around this time. We went back to Disney Californian Adventure to ride our fast pass ride and went to the water ride soon after, hoping to catch EXO wet. We guessed that this was their last ride before leaving since they had dress rehearsals to go. Luckily I only had to record two false alarms before EXO’s boat fell down from the waterfall.

There were only 6 of them on the boat and two staff noona, the other 6 and 2 managers nowhere in sight. Sehun and Tao cutely yelled in surprise when water shot up behind their backs. I went to the exit soon after and recorded them coming down the exit.

We tried to walk semi-before them since we were planning to leave too and carry the next shuttle, but we ended up walking in their midst. I didn’t want be a paparazzi anymore so I just stole some glances at those gorgeous boys. I was a bit confused since a shortcut to Downtown Disney was open and I thought it was an exit until the Disney staff explained it. Sehun and others stood behind me as though for guidance lol jk 😉 I said “Exit is that way” to my friend, half wanting Kris to hear and explain to them, and they started waking the same way I was. I fell behind and only noticed at that time that Sehun was wearing a black Disney cap backwards to keep his wet bangs from his eyes. He looks so good with bangs lifted up. Swoon. They stopped at lockers to get stuff and wait for the other members, during which many fans started taking pictures. I waited for a friend, and while doing that took this 😀

Later I snapped a pic of Lay, Sehun, and Kris’s backs. Kris’s shirt was still drenched and his hair a bit messy, just how I like guys’ hair to be =P Sehun is so lean and tall. Swoon again. Lay is so skinny! This was especially visible due to him having taken off his hoodie during the water ride and was now only wearing a white tank.

We went out a step before them, and the fangirls camping outside of exit for them to come out stupidly screamed, as if it weren’t ashtray so chaotic. This was the first time I heard screaming on an encounter so I was a bit annoyed and shushed them. EXO stopped to wait for the others and we left for the shuttle without them.

Don’t know if it was luck or chance, bit we just missed the shuttle leaving, so we had to wait for the next one and inevitably see EXO again. We sat down and soon enough EXO come walking with fans trailing behind. They saw us from other side and probably hesitated, but walked over since it’s the right stop. Kris was out of hearing range so my friend tried to tell the managers the next shuttle is in 30 min but they don’t understand English. EXO stood at edge of the platform with their backs to us and the managers and noona kept some space between them and fans. We ended up telling one noona the shuttle would take a long time, and she seemed to understand, but the manager was already on the phone. Luhan was really cute since he had tied his bangs hair up into a ponytail and at one point was practicing a dance move to himself.

A fan threw Tao a panda, which hit his backpack and fell between them; he turned around, saw it, smiled prettily and picked it up. Another fan tried to hand someone expensive-looking headphones and a noona was about to take it but manager told her to give it back. Kris wore Lay’s jacket since his shirt was still wet. Bacon and Chanyeol played around for a little bit. A bit before the shuttle arrived, EXO filed off out of the shuttle lot with fans in tow. We got on the shuttle and passed by a parking lot where they were waiting for cars to pick them up.

We ate and went back to the Hyatt to wait. Only a few people were inside waiting when SHINee came back around 12am. In order, they were: Minho, Taemin, Onew, and Key. Jonghyun wasn’t with them. I only paid attention to Taemin, who looked really tired. I might have called out his name once but he didn’t respond.

I didn’t feel much since I had seen them in concert 3 times already and maybe pretty boys don’t attract me anymore. Age-wise they’re like kids compared to me too. Had a really short fancam. Soon after they went up security started clearing the lobby and atrium and said we had to either wait outside or go up to our rooms. We chose outside even though I was freezing with shorts on.

Around 1am f(x) came back. First Krystal, Victoria, and Sulli came out of the car. Victoria waved and smiled my way while the other two didn’t do anything. A few Chinese fans called out Victoria’s Chinese name, Song Qian. Amber came out smiling and holding a USPS box along with other stuff and ran to the hotel door lmao. Luna came out and waved hi and smiled, but seemed like she was cold with just a sleeveless tank on.

We waited another hour, but only saw a car with unknown Asians coming back twice, the second time with alcohol and food. They might have been just random people. We went upstairs around 2AM.

Impressions of select EXO members (not in any particular order)

1. Kris. Oh Kris. I couldn’t stop thinking about him after this weekend. After being so close to him (probably less than a meter in that ticket line) I got to have a very very good look at him. Light unstyled hair, long limbs, tall and lean body, casual gray shirt and black pants, white canvas shoes. Felt so real yet so unreachable (because of his position as a star). I really should have asked him if I could have a picture T-T His cool face is not a representation of his personality, as he does laugh and laughs to his heart’s content when he does =D He officially jumped from #3 on my EXO-M bias list to #1 in my EXO bias list because of that encounter.

2. Sehun. My bias in EXO-K. He’s very handsome and pretty in real life, and his body is very lean and tall just like Kris (though not as skinny). I didn’t see him smiling much except for when he was talking to the other members. His eye smile is rare and a gem at that. He remains my bias in K ^^

3. Chanyeol is TRULY infected with the Happy Virus hahahaha. He smiles and laughs quite a bit and even when he’s not his eyes are open wide and give off a welcoming feeling~ He stuck pretty close to Kris the whole time, sorry BaekYeol shippers.

4. D.O. His eyes are so pretty! They make him look curious and like a kid all the time hehe. He’s relatively short in EXO lol.

5. Lay. He was colder than I wanted him to be, as he didn’t respond to me calling his name >< Maybe my voice was too soft. And seeing him in person kind of broke the image I had for him in my mind, so I’m sorry Lay you’ve just dropped quite a bit in my bias list for EXO-M. Probably 4th now from a tie with Luhan as 1st. Don’t know if I should say this, but Lay has a lot of pimples ><

6. Luhan. I didn’t pay much attention to him for some reason. Maybe Kris grabbed my attention too much. Luhan’s definitely cute, there’s no arguing that. I didn’t look at him that much so I can’t say much more than that =p

7. Baekhyun. Bacon was very nice to fans who wanted to give him gifts or take pictures 😀 Other than that he’s short LOL

8. Tao. Tao really acted like a maknae, playing around a lot and being taken care of by the coordi noonas hehe. He gives off a cute impression and that panda toy encounter with the fan made him higher on my bias list. He was so happy with that panda 😀

9. Kai. Kai is very cool to the fans, as in he didn’t respond much. He seemed anti-social since he was wearing headphones most of the time, even when doing stuff with the other EXO members. He really loves to dance, randomly breaking out to moves to his music. He was pretty with his hair unstyled and full bangs falling on his forehead =]

10. Xiumin. Xiumin is a happy baozi xD Very cute but he didn’t stand out that much.

11. Chen. Not much I can say. The first thing I noticed was that he had pimples LOL. I guess I tend to find flaws fast.

12. Suho. A very nice leader, he smiled and nodded to fans even when they were swarming EXO with cameras in tow. The posing was very cute. I’m not sure if he just wants more exposure or did it for the fans, but I’d say the latter haha. His eyes were always smiling when I saw him ^^ I’m liking him more and more after this day.